


The Goddess

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [37]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aging, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, F/M, Immortality, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Marriage, Mercenaries, non-character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 13:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14749784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: Leo is a simple mercenary, living out his days wandering the continent and going wherever the money is. A woman come to him one day, a goddess calling herself Renee, and makes him the greatest offer that he could ever want: Immortality.The catch is, he has to love her to get it._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.





	The Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I've done a lot of stuff about them being gods and goddesses recently, haven't I? But to be fair, I technically started writing this one a few weeks before I stared For the love of (a) God, so eh.
> 
> Edit as of 5/29/18: now with better editing and ran through a grammar checker! So any other mishaps are just totally looked over. If you catch them though, lemme know and I'll fix 'em!
> 
> Edit as of 8/13/18: I did a better grammar and spelling check and added like 3.7k of content. Enjoy y'all.

Sitting on the edge of the tavern bed, Leo laces one boot, and then the other. They're beginning to wear out, and he'll need to replace them soon. They're of good craftsmanship at least. Held together much longer than the last two pairs combined. He tucks the laces in before getting up to ensure they don't come untied as easily. If he can remember where the village is, he’ll commission the same man to make him another pair.

Gathering the rest of his things doesn't take long. His sword comes first, then the little shield he picked up not too terribly long ago. It's lightweight but very small, which is exactly what he needs. Perfect for blocking a sword, but not heavy enough to distract him with an aching arm.

Repacking his pack is the most time-consuming part of the process. Just a few personal items and his soaps are what he has out of it, but he has to comb over the room a few times to ensure he grabbed everything of his. He doesn't want to waste coin on replacing his items because he wasn't attentive and forgot something. Leo scans over the room one final time while tying his hair back, and is satisfied that he has all of his belongings.

He leaves the tavern, neglecting to buy any breakfast from the barkeep. The room he rented last night was already too much coin, and the stew he bought for supper had his guts in a twist for most of the evening. He'll find food elsewhere, and if he doesn't, then oh well. Skipping a meal won't kill him. It certainly hasn’t before.

There's nothing worthwhile in town. The bakery is shit, and the butcher's meat looks days old and gray, so that definitely cuts out any further options for breakfast. The thought of the rotten meat and bug filled pastry crust has suppressed all grumbling in his belly. Walking through, he vaguely looks at the other shops. He doesn't need more soaps yet, nor candles, and his clothing isn't in any immediate need for a tailor. Something for headaches from the apothecary could be nice, but she looks like she's too drunk to even slur out her own name, let alone offer him some white willow bark to chew. People shout at him from their little shop stands, trying to peddle their goods to the stranger in town, but he sets his face like stone and keeps walking. Nothing here in this market that he needs. The notice board doesn’t have anything useful on it either. Time to move on, it seems.

On the long road leading out of the village, there's a small fruit market set up. It's all mediocre at best, but he'll need something to eat later if he doesn't find a town to buy anything in. The woman selling at least has some fruit that's already dried, so he takes plenty of that and a few fresh pieces. It should tide him over for a few days.

Leo gets off of the beaten path after a while. He doesn't have any kind of contract to fulfill at the moment, which on one hand means no extra coin to rake in. On the other, however, it means he's temporarily free to do whatever the hell he wants. Which means he’s probably going to move on. This area is shit for contracts anyways. They're all small communities of good, deity fearing people, those that won't be afraid to turn him over to the hangman for his offers of freelance killings. Not like he can't easily kill whoever crosses his path, but still. He's a mercenary and assassin; he's got to keep a low enough profile that people won't recognize him when his blade has arrived for their lives. He gets enough shit as is for being left-handed. No need for the extra attention.

He walks off in a random direction, idly crunching on one of the apples he bought. It's gritty and tastes old, but it's... edible. The core is left behind once he finishes. Hopefully, some of the seeds will take to the ground, and in a few years a new tree will sprout in that spot. Free food for all, and all that shit. He’s definitely not one to complain about free food growing in the wilderness.

Midday comes. Leo sweats in his leather armor, the sun beating down on his skin like a furnace. There's nary a breeze. It's fucking __hot__. He's miserable and cranky in the heat, but the woods in this area are known to be full of bears so he can't travel in the shade of the trees. He can take on ten men at once, but a bear might be too much for him to handle. Frankly, he doesn't want to find out.

He steps, almost trips when his boot catches on something. Scowling down, he sees that his right laces have come out and are completely untied. Wonderful. Leo takes a quick look around and once he's certain there's nothing around but him, he kneels down and reties his boot. He makes a stronger knot this time, tucks the leather laces in more tightly. Last thing he needs is to trip on his face because of a stray lace.

Once upright, there's a woman ahead of him. She's got a shapely, ample body, and Leo draws his sword on instinct, not trusting her sudden appearance out of nowhere. He hadn't heard any footsteps, and he's got keen ears. There are legends that come to mind upon seeing her. Women that are like sirens, but on land. He hasn't a name for them, but he knows what they are. Beautiful women that lure men in with seduction, get them close with promises to spread their legs, only for the men to meet their deaths. They're like nymphs in terms of beauty, but far, far more deadly. She's beautiful, he won't deny that. But this one isn't naked like the legends say, in fact she's rather modestly dressed. Her arms are mostly bare, but the lilac dress flows around her feet and her hair is long and loose like a young maiden. She's pale like a lily flower, her skin seemingly unaccustomed to the sun with the way her arms are already beginning to stain red.

She glances at his drawn blade, but instead of cowering away like any sensible human would, she just smiles. "Please don't," she says with a small laugh, looking back to his face. "I mean you no harm."

"Don't come any closer," he tells her with a no-nonsense, sharp voice. Subtly, he gets into fighting stance. He'll strike if he has to.

The woman brushes the mess of brown ringlets out of her face, the smile never leaving her mouth. "Well, you're certainly as fierce as others say you are."

She knows about him, then. Discomforting. Its not good for word to get out about him. "What do you want." Leo doesn't phrase it like a question, but a demand.

"I have an offer to make you."

A soft breeze flutters through, the first he's felt all day. It temporarily soothes the heat that's further browning his olive skin, cools the sweat sticking to him. "I'm not taking contracts right now," he lies. He most assuredly _is_ taking contracts, but not from the forest dwelling nymph-siren woman who probably just want to eat his innards.

"Oh, no no. Nothing like that. I don't have coin to give, nor do I have anyone I particularly want dead." The woman tucks her hair behind both ears. Too fucking pretty. Has to be a trap. "I know of you, and what kind of man you are. You want a measure of... let's say power? Power and strength. I can offer these things to you."

He keeps his expression neutral and stares her down without saying anything. It's discomforting that she knows this, and he's debating on whether or not to just kill her. The only person who knew those things is long dead and in the ground, and he's positive the person wouldn't have told anyone else. His actions have never cried for power in any form, whether it be in the form of extreme strength or killing his way into a position of ruling. So there's no feasible way for the nymph-siren to know his desires.

"I'm not here to steal your soul or ask for your first born. I merely wish to offer you this for my own personal gain." She dares to take a step closer, and while he doesn't raise his sword any further, he gives her a threatening look. Curls his lip to show his overly sharp teeth.

"What do you want," he demands once again.

Her smile remains, unwavering. "You don't mince words, do you? I want to offer you great strength and immortality."

Leo exhales, tamping down frustration. So either she's a nymph-siren or she’s a very stealthy crazy woman. "That doesn't answer my question. What do _you_ want?"

"Love," she says simply. "I'm a goddess, and I've been alone for so long. All I want in return from you is love."

Her being a goddess could also make sense. Leo believes in those. He ignores the rest of what she said and instead asks "The goddess of what?"

The laugh she lets out is like sweet music. "Not _the_ goddess, _a_ goddess. I've been around for a very, very long time. Unlike these younger, more modern deities, I'm not stuck with a particular aspect. I'm not the goddess of flowers or fish or babies. Just an immortal being."

"You happened upon me by chance, and you suddenly know my deepest desires? And the only thing you want in return is companionship?" It reeks like a _trap_.

"Not by chance, no. I've been watching you for some time, trying to figure out if you were the person I'd finally extend my offer to. I know plenty about you, Leo." Another small breeze of wind flows through, gently billowing the loose skirt of her dress. He forces down an unpleasant shudder when she says his name.

"Like what?"

The serene smile on her mouth changes in just the slightest, looks a little more mischievous. She holds up a finger. "Oh, let's see. You're an orphan with no family, and your few friends scattered far and wide.” She ticks off a second finger. “You worship elements, namely water, instead of gods.” A third goes up. “You killed someone for the first time when you were only ten years old.” A fourth joins. “You married your wife at twenty-one and were widowed six years ago at twenty-four.” She pauses, sighs and looks around like she’s thinking.

Her thumb goes out, joining the fingers. “There's tattooing on both of your arms and all down your back. Your left side and arm are done in white ink, and all the rest of it, the right and center of your back, your right arm, are all done in black. Would you like me to continue?"

She must have been watching him for a very, very long time then. The pure discomfort of it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The fact that she knows of his wife is the most uncomfortable part, because he's only spoken of her to his closest friends and not one of them would be stupid enough to give out such intimate details of his life. He needs more if he's to trust that she's divine and not just a very thorough stalker.

"Prove yourself."

"Will you allow me closer to do so?"

Leo gives her a long, hard look before finally sheathing his sword. There's a wickedly sharp dagger on his hip, and he's not afraid to disembowel her if she tries anything.

She takes that as her cue and comes forward, careful not to move too quickly. Doesn't want to look like a threat. Up close, she's even prettier than he initially thought. Her eyes are a vibrant, vivid green, like fresh leaves on a tree in spring, and her lips are light pink. The flush of heat soaking into her pale skin dusts her nose and cheekbones a rosy shade, the color promising of a sunburn if she doesn't find shade soon. She holds out one delicate looking hand to him. Her palm is smooth and free of any callouses, her nails long and neatly kept. "May I see your arm?"

Turning his arm wrist-side up, she sets about untying his arm guard. The shifting of the leather on his skin stings, and it only aches worse when she peels it away. On the topside of his arm, it's a bright mix of red and pink. He's prickled with heat rash, and the leather rubbing up against his sweaty skin has left it angry and raw. The tattoos under it still look the same, at least. He'd be pissed if his tattoos were fucked up. She frowns, reaches with her free hand, and closes her palm firmly over the skin. It takes a bit of effort for Leo to not hiss at the pain, but he can't stop himself from gritting his teeth at the burn of it. The pain starts to lessen the longer her hand is clamped around him, and he wonders how she knew that he was rashed. He hadn’t known he was in pain before she exposed the wound, and he was in stance to attack, there was no way he was unconsciously holding himself in discomfort. Perhaps she isn't lying.

Peeling her hand away, she beams at him. The skin is back to its normal olive, no longer red and raw or rashy. It's like the injury was never there at all. Leo hums in the back of his throat, watching her smile from the corner of his eye. He smooths his other hand over the skin, just so he can have more proof than sight. The skin is soft and feels normal under his tough.

Alright. He believes her, to an extent.

 

 

 

 

"So what does this entail?" Leo asks, not bothering to look at her. "What exactly are the stipulations to this? And give me your name; it's blatant you already know mine."

Pacing a few steps behind him, the goddess laughs, then goes silent for a moment. "Renee. Call me Renee. And what exactly do you mean by stipulations?"

"I mean exactly what I said. What are the stipulations? If I love you, do I suddenly get granted immortality? If it takes me decades, am I going to be stuck in the body of an old man? How does this work?"

He can't see it, but Renee shakes her head. "No. It won't be granted in this lifetime-"

"Wonderful," he cuts in. His tone is flat but blatantly sarcastic.

"It won't be granted in this lifetime," she repeats, "you'll only receive it once you die. The only stipulation is that you have to love me. There's no hidden tricks here. I don't want jewels and gold, or a castle, or riches. None of that. Just simple love. If I wanted any of that, I’d have chosen a different man."

Ignoring the rest of what she said, Leo tells her, "Giving it to me once I'm dead seems rather counterproductive."

"Just trust in me. And- ah, actually, there is _one_ catch."

Leo draws in a deep breath, then lets it out slow. Of fucking course. "And that is?"

"I want a proper marriage."

Oh. Better than what he was expecting. Marriages can easily be annulled if things go sour, either by death or a lengthy divorce process. "Fine. When?"

"Any time," Renee tells him. "Take me to the nearest church or some kind of holy man, or whoever has the authority, and I'll do it any day."

Leo grunts and continues on in silence. It's not... necessarily a bad offer. Love her for a while in exchange for eternal life? The again, sound like a shit shot. He’s got about three emotions, and he’s pretty fucking sure that love isn’t one of them. And he hopes she doesn’t expect him to go out of his way to find a church. Standing through a day long ceremony devoted to a religion he doesn’t believe in, in order for him to marry a complete stranger is on the very bottom of his to-do list.

The heat of the day grows impossibly hotter around them and he sweats heavily. His arm is beginning to chafe again under the leather guard. It’s uncomfortable now that he’s aware of it. But he doesn’t ask the goddess to fix it again. It’s not unbearable.

 

 

 

 

They're married three days later, which is much sooner than either thought it would happen. Out wandering in the plains, the two of them come across a group of nomadic peoples. Their self-proclaimed holy man agrees to do a short ceremony for them when Renee asks, and Leo's subjected to the strangest hand-fasting ceremony that he's ever seen. The fasting ribbon is little more than a dirty rope, and he's pretty sure that the rest of the group is speaking in tongues while the holy man spouts off some nonsense vows for Leo and Renee to repeat. But it's quick and over with little fuss. Certainly shorter than a church ceremony. The goddess’ lips taste sweet as they share their first kiss. She's pleasantly warm against him in the brief time their mouths are touching, even with the afternoon heat sweltering.

It's over almost as soon as it's begun, and they leave off in the direction that the group points them in. There's supposedly a town that way with a tavern. Leo really hopes there is, because a fourth night of sleeping on the ground doesn't sound pleasant. He's thirty, and while it isn't too old, he's not young enough to shake off the sore back anymore.

It's little more than a village, but it does indeed have a tavern. They get at least three rounds of drink for free for being newlyweds, which Leo isn't going to turn down. There's very little excitement in small places like this, so a marriage is always cause to celebrate, even if the couple are complete strangers it seems. He didn't intend to drink tonight, but if it's free he'll take it. It's enough to give him a pleasant buzz in the back of his head, but not much else.

Renee's flushed red in the face, laughing with a group of men at a back table. Huh. He didn't think gods could get drunk off of human swill, but then again, what the fuck does he know? It seems to be affecting her a lot more than he. Low tolerance, probably. He finds it amusing that someone as powerful like a goddess can get drunk on a few mugs of shitty human beer.

Leo rents a room when the free drinks run out, and buys some supper too. Renee accepts hers graciously, smiles warmly at him and touches his hand before he returns to the bar. One of the men remarks that Leo's acting pretty cold to his brand-new wife, but she laughs sweetly and tells the man that Leo's just like that.

His coin is running low after the evening's purchases. New contracts need to be taken, and soon. He eats while looking over the board by the door, trying to debate what to take. He kills for a living and wouldn't mind slaughtering a few wild pigs that are tearing up gardens. However, there's a case of a missing son that pays a lot more than the pigs do, and the pigs pays pretty well to begin with. Leo takes both papers. If he's ambitious enough, he can get both done before evening falls tomorrow. Now that he's apparently providing for two, he'll need all the funds he can get.

While he's finishing up the last of his meal, he can hear one of the men Renee's sitting with quietly trying to warn her of what awaits her later in the evening. She does look young, A very young twenty-something compared to Leo’s thirty. But she laughs, not unkindly, and tells the guy they've both been married before, so she knows what to expect. Leo lets out a soft sound of amusement that no one else catches. He hasn't intended to lay with her, hadn't even crossed his mind honestly. Not that she isn't attractive, she very much is.

He finds it strange that he hasn't thought about having her yet. Being balls deep in a soft, moaning woman is his second favorite thing on this planet, right after killing. The two of them now being husband and wife __does__ imply sex. But it just hadn't occurred to him that it's something that could happen. In theory. He’s not going to push it, that’s for sure.

Leo catches her attention, tells her through gestures that he's heading to their rented room. He's tired, and there's plenty on his plate for tomorrow. He needs rest. Renee takes that as a cue to come with him. Downing the last of her drink, she bids goodnight to her company and starts off towards him. Assured now that she isn't awaiting a painful night, her company whistles to her and makes foul jokes that she takes in stride, laughing the entire time. She catches on Leo's arm, holding onto him to keep herself steady.

"You've been married before?" he asks, leading her towards the door.

Renee snorts. "No. But if I told them I've fucked more people than they've ever met, then they probably wouldn't have been so receptive to me."

He nods, feels the faintest pull at the corner of his mouth. Oh, he's most certainly been there. Fucked more women in his 30 years than most men will ever see in their lives. He's been chasing women since he was barely a man of 13. It's a miracle he hasn't caught anything from sticking his dick in anything wearing a skirt.

In good spirits from the night's festivities, he breaks into the vodka that he reserves for disinfectant and takes a shot of it. It burns on the way down, but warms his belly. He offers some to Renee out of politeness, but she declines.

"I've got a low tolerance," she admits with a slightly embarrassed giggle, and it shows. Poor girl can hardy keep herself walking straight. She’s flushed in the face, too.

He takes another shot, just because he feels like it, then puts it back where it belongs. While he puts his pack under the bed, she sets about stumbling around and turning out the oil lamps one by one. Good, so he's not the only one with sleep on his mind. She leaves the one by the bed on, and he uses the weak light to get his armor off. He can hear her moving behind him, but he's got no idea what she's doing. He kicks his boots off and takes his hair down, shaking out the black strands. After that, he sets about undoing the buttons on his shirt. He wonders how the sleeping arrangements are going to work between the two of them while loosening his belt. He sleeps fully nude and doesn't plan to stop just because she's here.

Turning, he plans to tell her as much. The words dry up in his mouth as he looks her over, her dress pooled around her ankles on the floor and nothing else on her body. Oh. He certainly wasn’t expecting her to be naked, but he’s not going to argue. The low, orange-yellow wash of the single oil lamp in the room highlights her body, and frankly she’s very nice to look at. Even in the poor lighting, he can see the want in her eyes.

“Aren’t marriages typically consummated, Leo?” she asks, and her voice is low.

Leo doesn’t let himself show any emotion, but the erection growing in his trousers is a little hard to hide. Her eyes flit to it before coming back to his face. “Typically, yes.”

Renee hums. “Well, this may not be a very typical marriage, but I don’t see why we can’t enjoy the perks of it.” She tilts her head to the side, her hair shifting with the motion.

He takes in a low, slow breath and lets it go with the same controlled measure. She’s tempted him with two things he wants now, first immortality and now sex. The confines of his trousers squeezing on his cock is starting to grow uncomfortable. Perhaps along with being a goddess, she’s a nymph-siren after all. One of her hands slides down, and she tilts her head the other way, giving him an inquisitive look as she presses two fingers between her legs.

“I don’t see why not,” he agrees, taking a step forward.

 

 

 

 

They spend the next five years together in easy company. Renee becomes… A friend of sorts would probably be the best description for him to use. She’s like a good friend that he gets to have a lot of sex with. It’s better than laying with some random woman and hoping he doesn’t get her pregnant, and it’s certainly much more preferable than paying for sex. With that, there’s always the chance of a disease. Renee is always warm and willing, and he hasn’t put a baby in her yet, so he’s got that going for him. That, and she hasn’t caused his cock to fall off. So things are good.

Besides, she’s a pretty good partner. It’s nice to have someone to braid his hair back for him or massage the knots out of his shoulders. She serves as a good go-between for human interaction. Frankly, the fewer people he has to talk to, the better. He’ll take contracts and do little things that are tacked up on notice boards, but he hasn’t failed to notice that his pretty goddess wife gets better prices for food and room as opposed to when he does the negotiations himself. Probably because they’re less afraid of her as opposed to him with his ever-stern face and unkind tone.

It’s a little more difficult in the beginning for him to try to get the coin to take care of the both of them, but she starts pulling her weight when she notices. Renee is a decent doctor when she hides the fact that she’s using magic for it, and she’s more willing than he is to use trade as a bartering tool. He’d rather have coin in his hand, but he feels he can’t complain when she gets them a full meal in exchange for soothing sick twin infants. It’s less he has to spend.

The first year in general is a little difficult. Trying to adjust to constantly having another human at his side is a challenge. It’s been years since he’s last shared company with anyone for this long, but eventually, he gets used to it. She learns to read his moods pretty quickly, knows when to relieve the tension in his frame and when to back away and give him space.

She’s also often full of surprises. Even with nothing to mark down days, she remembers dates impeccably. On his thirty-first birthday, she offers him an apple tart and a new pair of boots as a gift. She had to have been carrying the boots for at least two weeks without him noticing, the last time they were around a cobbler who could do that quality of work was many towns back. In fact, it makes sense as to why she delayed their leaving for so long. He thanks her and they split the tart.

He gets another gift that evening in the form of her body, and afterward she promises him something better. “Whenever we reach the next town, we’ll rent a room,” she says, wiping some of the sweat from her face. “I can give you something nicer if we have a bed.”

She keeps good on her word. Very, very good on her word.

Their second year comes, and a sickness rolls across the continent. It ravages the population, taking the young, elderly, and infirm the fastest, though even those with good immune systems begin dropping like flies. He doesn’t get much work in this year, too many people die before they can get a piece of parchment, let alone have the terms of a contract written up. What few people he goes after are typically those who keep robbing the dead. Renee makes far more coin than he does, utilizing her skills as a doctor and saving everyone she can. There are only so many grave robbers, but the sick just keep coming.

She worries over him if he so much as sniffles, and he can’t quite blame her. Men like him, healthy as horse and strong, drop from what they think at first is just a cold. But because of her, he stays well though they’re both constantly in the thick of those dead and dying. He finds himself grateful for it.

“How do you feel about children?” she asks him one evening in the summer, cradling an infant in her arms. The girl is an orphan now, the only one of the family Renee was able to save, and they’ve been given a few coins to escort the baby to the next town where she’s got an auntie willing to take her in.

“I don’t like them,” Leo tells her flatly, sitting cross-legged across from his wife. Never been fond of kids, even when he was one. They’re loud and sticky, and he doesn’t have the patience to teach them how to be human. _He’s_ barely human most days. “Why?”

“Just curious,” she replies, looking down at the swaddled babe sleeping in her arms. “Most men are crazy about spreading their seed and handing down their family names, all that bullshit. It’s been two years, and you haven’t said anything about us having them, so I found myself curious.”

“It’s been two years of me praying there wouldn’t _be_ a baby. I have absolutely no desire to have a family.” He doesn’t feel the need to point out that thanks to his teenage self lacking the foresight to pull out, he’s probably already got plenty of bastard children around.

Renee nods, soothes the little one when she begins to stir. “Good. I like children, but certainly not enough to have them. I honestly was hoping you wouldn’t ask me to have any. Anyhow, we should probably get going. It’s a long walk, and I’m scared she may die if we can’t get her fed. I can fix sickness, but not starvation.”

Winter comes and the cold finishes off the killing. Plants and crops die, the weak and ill following. It’s a bitter winter, the harshest one he’s seen in over a decade, and they use up most of their spare reserves of coin to keep themselves put up away from the chill. It’s too frosty for either of them to travel the way they normally do. At least he knows they can keep warm in other ways and he won’t become a father as a result.

Year three is a good year. After the massive deaths of the previous year, strong men are needed everywhere. Leo’s a killer, not a carpenter, but damn if there isn’t good money in hard manual labor. He doesn’t even mind after the first few days, when he realizes that Renee can just work the soreness out of him and leave him feeling almost good as new for the next day.

The two of them build back up their reserves of coin, at least. It was a lot to have lost, but they make it back quick. Leo’s good with his hands and doesn’t feel the need to bullshit around, so he gets his work done and gets it done well. They hop from town to town, following the trail of coin. Their stay in one town lingers so long that they end up getting a discount at the tavern they’ve been living in.

“It’s so nice to settle down for once,” Renee tells him, neatly folding their freshly dried clothes. They don’t need to be repacked yet, so she sets them on the chest of drawers in the little tavern room.

“Don’t get used to it,” Leo says, letting his hair down. “I’m not one to settle. As soon as the jobs dry up here, we’re moving on.” He shakes his hair out, combing through it with his fingers as he kicks his boots off.

She rolls her eyes and moves to tuck his boots out of the way. “I’m aware. I don’t have any particular desire to legitimately settle down at the moment, especially not here, but it’s nice to have somewhere to call home. I like knowing where I’m going to be sleeping at night, you know?”

He hums in agreement. It is pretty nice knowing that.

As always, though, the jobs to peter out after a few more weeks. They move on. It’s the same old cycle until winter hits, and while mild, they spend quite a bit to keep themselves out of the cold. It’s not painfully cold, but neither feel too keen on loosing fingers or toes from frostbite.

Contracts are good in the next year. For his thirty-fourth birthday, he gets the gift of a large offer. A small gang has taken up residence nearby to a city, and they’ve been terrorizing the locals. Killing, raping, robbing. All the favorite past-times of the worst kind of folk. But Leo takes care of it with no problem, and relishes in watching the light go out in their eyes. He may not be a good man, but he’s not scum like them.

Later that evening, after looting everything he could from the dead men, he enters the local tavern to retrieve his wife. He’s soaked head to toe with dried blood, and only realizes it when it goes dead silent inside. Renee merely sighs at him. She offers him a drink, but he declines, tells her to buy a bottle for the road and he’ll be outside. Though he’s done the town a favor, they’re going to be too uncomfortable with him to let him rent a room.

“You need a bath,” she tells him, taking the lead as they walk.

“I’m well aware. The blood is beginning to itch.”

Renee sighs once more. “Leo,” she starts in an exasperated voice, but nothing follows for a moment. “Come this way. Since you decided we’re not staying in the tavern, you get to bathe in the river.”

He ends up bathing in rivers a lot.

All sorts of criminal activity pops up, and Leo is more often than not soaked in blood, By summer, he takes contracts that are less than half of what he would charge, simply because he and Renee don’t have much more room to store all of their funds. It’ a very good year. She has him take a long detour back to a large city, and she makes an agreement with the banker to store their extra coin. She puts away most everything they have between the two of them while he’s out taking contracts in the city, and he makes almost half of it back by the end of the week.

They hang around a little longer just to get as much extra money as they can, and they put it all away for safe keeping. He holds onto enough to keep them going of course, but there’s an insane amount tucked into a little box in the bank.

“It’ll be good to have extra money around when you can’t work anymore,” she points out. He hates to agree, but it’s the truth. He’ll be too old to work eventually, and it’ll be nice to not have to worry about money then. It’s going to accrue interest, he’s told. It’s probably going to be doubled by the time he’s ready to retire, and he really can’t find any reason to complain about it.

Fall comes with little excitement, then the freeze of winter. The winter is mild compared to most, so they don’t take a break from travel as they usually would. Renee complains about the non-stop travel, but Leo can tell she’s not serious. Not fully, anyway. The constant traveling is tiresome, yes, but he’s driven by money. Winter means spending. The less spending, the better.

The winter is so mild that they hardly notice when spring begins to creep in. But it comes quickly, pushing trees and flowers into bloom, awakening seeds and leaves forgotten in the cold. One afternoon, she convinces him to stop, just for a bit. She wants to pick the wildflowers. The purple looks rather beautiful with her eyes, so he indulges her for once.

“We’ve been together for five years now,” Renee tells him after a while, examining a violet bloom before moving on to another.

“Have we now?” he asks, resting under the shade of a tree. He doesn’t doubt it, but she like him to respond to her. He closes his eyes, hoping to get some rest before they carry on. If she’s smart, she’ll nap too.

“We have.”

She’s quiet for a long while, sitting next to him to escape the oddly warm afternoon. Having found a worthy bloom, she tucks it into her hair and hopes her mane of unruly curls will hold it in place. Leo’s just started to doze off when she nudges him, startling him back awake.

“I have a question for you.”

“Then spit it out.” His voice is rough, but she knows it’s fatigue, not anger.

She laughs softly to herself. “Never one to mince words. I need to know... Do you love me yet, Leo?”

It throws him. He’s forgotten that he’s even supposed to do love her to fulfill his end of the agreement. He’s not sure how, but it has managed to slip his mind. Closing his eyes, he thinks for a moment.

He enjoys her company, certainly. She’s a wonderful companion, a valuable asset when it comes to bartering. Though if he’s honest, he doesn’t particularly think that he feels that much else for her. She’s nice to be around, generally good company when the road is long, a good lay for sure, but he doesn’t feel much more than a strong friendship. Realizing he’s been silent too long, he looks to her.

“No,” he says honestly, and to his surprise, she smiles.

“That’s alright,” she tells him, reaching up to lightly touch his face. “There’s still plenty of time.”

 

 

 

 

He finds a town one evening that Renee falls in love with sometime in their sixth year together. It’s not much of a sight when they arrive, but when they leave their rented room in the morning, she’s awestruck. Leo doesn’t see what’s so nice about it, but he agrees to stay and rest for a day. She’s reluctant to leave after, keeps having him extend the stay for just a day longer, Just another day, she says when the morning comes, just one more day. When one day of rest turns into almost ten consecutive days, he makes her an offer.

“You want to settle for a while,” he points out, “while I hardly want to stop moving long enough to sleep. Stay a while. Rent a home, become their doctor or something. We’ll both get what we want, and I assure you, I’ll visit.”

It doesn’t take much to get her to agree. She doesn’t want to settle down, per-say, but he can tell she wants a small break from his nomadic lifestyle. Renee seems reluctant to be away from him for so long though, and that strikes him as odd. Leo has a certain attachment to her, being that he considers her a dear friend by this point. Still, he thinks her hesitance strange until a realization hits him. He’s supposed to love her to get his immortality, but there was never any kind of stipulation about her doing the same.

“Do you love me?” he asks her in the morning as he’s tying his boots up, getting ready to leave out. He’s already left her enough funds to survive two months, the rest is on her from here on out. Renee is resourceful, though, so he isn’t too worried. She already has a home to call her own and he hasn’t even left yet.

At hearing his question, her hands still partway through braiding his hair. It catches her off guard, but she takes it in stride. “I do,” she says, carrying on and finishing up his hair. Renee ties his hair off, and adjusts the various ties, buckles, and straps on his armor. She waits until he’s at the door to leave to question him in return. “Why do you ask, Leo?”

He gives her a long look, standing in the open door. “I was just curious,” he tells her honestly, then begins closing the door. “I’ll see you in a few months, Renee.”

It’s more like half a year before he comes back for a short visit. It’s a damn good year for him, yet another bloody year full of people who actually fight back for once and give him a challenge. He trades out his usual sword and dagger for a bow and arrow, and it’s a nice change in pace. Nice to watch people run in a panic while he picks them off one by one from the top of a tree. It requires patience, but he’s got plenty of that.

While he immensely enjoys the freedom that solitude has allotted him, he does find himself oddly lonely every now and then. He’s grown too used to having company for the past half decade he presumes. But he’s a creature accustomed to change, and doesn’t make more than a month or two to adapt back to the isolation.

To cope, he throws himself fully into his work. Leo stays aware of danger, but beyond hat, he shuts his mind down. He stops thinking about where he’s going to sleep, when he’s going to visit Renee, what he’s going to eat, and blanks out everything in his head. The only things that exist in the moment are him and the arrow notched into his bow.

He grows tired after a while, though. Figures it’s time to head back and let the goddess know that he isn’t dead. Give himself some time to prop his feet up and sleep on a bed that isn’t infested with bugs, or covered in fluids from the previous renters. So he makes the long journey back to the little village.

Renee comes at him with a knife when he appears late at night, somewhere between dark and sunrise. He wasn’t expecting her to be so startled, or wake up for that matter, but he’s well enough prepared to catch her before she can sink the blade into his throat. It isn’t hard to wrestle the weapon out of her hand and hiss at her to quit, and she relaxes when she realizes that it’s him. Sort of. She swats him unnecessarily hard on the arm and lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Fuck, Leo, say something when you come in! I could have killed you,” she says, sounding irate as she helps him get his armor off.

“You wouldn’t have been able to,” he tells her confidently, blinking heavily as he methodically disrobes. He’s tired from the long walk. Probably why she woke up, him being noisy and clumsy from exhaustion. “The only reason I didn’t bruise you is because I held back.”

Even though he can’t see her face in the dark room, he can _feel_ her roll her eyes at him. “Yes, yes, I’m aware you’re ridiculously strong. Finish undressing, I can tell you’re trying not to fall asleep on your feet.”

 

It’s nice spending the night next to someone warm, in a soft bed. He wakes frequently in the night, having grown unused to human company, but it’s… oddly comforting to wake up next to her. It’s nice to drift awake to find her pressed against his back, her arm loosely draped over his side. Leo realizes that he’s missed this. Missed _her_. He’s still certain he doesn’t love her, but he can’t say that he doesn’t miss her company.

He also enjoys waking up to her mouth around his cock bright and early in the morning. She’s hot and wet around him, and he doesn’t even have his bearings by the time she’s seated on him, moaning low and holding onto his shoulders. One of her requests in their marriage was that he remain faithful, and five and a half months of faithfulness and sparse masturbation has lead to him having a very low stamina while he’s in her. She doesn’t mind that he spills entirely too soon. It’s just good to have him again. It’s also good when they straight back to sleep right after.

Sleeping in is a nice luxury that he also missed. Renee lets him sleep in until almost midday, and has a hot lunch waiting when he finally drags his carcass out of bed. He fills her in about his adventures over mouthfuls of food. There’s genuine interest from her while she listens, nodding along and interjecting comments here and there.

All in all, it’s a damn nice visit. He relishes in being out and carving a bloody swath through the countryside for money, but he also very much enjoys having his every need taken care of. By a gorgeous woman, nonetheless. He’s not one that believes his wife should do everything under the sun for him, but she seems to like being busy so he doesn’t really do much unless she asks him to.

After a good week of rest, though, he’s eager to get out and get moving again. He lets her know as much, and when he wakes to leave at the first light, eight days after arriving back, she’s already up. There’s food made for him, a large breakfast for the two to share and plenty of dried rations for him to take. Leo should have expected this much out of her, but he didn’t. It’s kind.

Leo takes her up against the door before he leaves, her legs wrapped tight around him and his face buried into her neck. A thank you of sorts for her thoughtfulness. Renee kisses him rough and wet before he leaves this time, knowing it’ll likely be another half year before she sees him. As an unexpected kindness from him, she finds a pretty necklace on the nightstand after he’s long gone. She’d thought it was something he intended to sell, but looking closer, she presumes it isn’t.

It’s a roughly cut hunk of amethyst laid in silver, something that he once offhandedly mentioned made her eyes look especially pretty. It had been before she settled here, she remembers. After he told her he didn’t love her, he’d broken the silence and complimented the flower in her hair. “Something about green and purple,” he’d said, “they contrast each other nicely.” And it does.

She takes the tiny clasp and hooks the necklace on in front of the mirror, examining herself with it on. The violet rock makes the green of her eyes pop, though she figures she’s going to have to keep it tucked into the neck of her dress most of the time. It won’t do for such a lovely gift to be stolen from her.

Leo, out on his merry way, falls back into his normal pattern of killing and collecting bounties. When he gets bored of his weapon, he spices it up by experiments with different kinds of arrows. He’s always been pleased with the effects of flaming arrows, though he’s never much liked how visible it makes him. Fire isn’t stealthy. Poison coated tips, however… well, anyone can see a rod of fire heading towards them. Poison is a little more discrete.

Serrated arrowheads, he’s particularly fond of, but good quality ones cost far more than he wants to spend, and they’re too time consuming to make. Even so, when he manages to get his hands on some, he uses them to the utmost advantage.

Nothing beats hand-to-hand, man-to-man, up close and personal bloodshed for him, though. He enjoys the thrill of it. Killing one with arrows and stealth is satisfying in its own way, but nothing is quite as good for him as feeling that hot spray of blood when his dagger hits home in another human’s body. Leo knows it’s probably fucked up to enjoy murdering, no matter the context, but he doesn’t dwell on it. He doesn’t much feel guilt. Besides, this is just what he was built to be.

Boredom sets in after a while, though. Contracts on this end of the continent dry up, and he imagines Renee is getting lonely with him being gone for nearly another half year. Once his dissatisfaction with the lack of decent contracts gets to be too much, makes the weeks long trip back to her little home in the small village. By a stroke of luck and some half-hearted planning, he catching her in the daytime this time. He sees the barest hint of a thin silver chain around her neck when he greets her, and is pleased that she found his gift.

She’s more excited to see him than last time. Probably because she doesn’t think he’s an intruder this time. Leo finds himself with two armfuls of her, being embraced with a joyful sort of vigor. She breathes in the scent of sweat, of his sun-warmed leather chest piece, and tells him that she’s missed him.

Once she lets go, she turns back to her previous task of harvesting the ripe vegetables from her garden. He watches for a moment. The garden is nicer than when he left, lined with small bricks to keep it in some semblance of containment.

“Take this inside and set it next to the basin,” Renee instructs, holding up a basket of assorted veggies. “I’ll be in to fix you lunch once I’m finished here.”

The garden doesn’t take her much longer, and soon enough she’s inside washing the produce and asking about how his trip was. Leo shrugs, tells her it was the same old thing. Lots of arrows through eyes, sleeping on rocks by accident and fucking his back up. Dirty tavern rooms, bad food. The usual.

“How have you been? Anything interesting?” he asks, knowing he’s probably not going to care. You can only listen to so many stories about sniffly kids before they all become the same. But he asks nonetheless, because she extends the same courtesy to him.

An almost mischievous smile pulls at her mouth as she lays some peppers across her cutting board. “Nothing much of note, though I received two marriage proposals while you were away.”

“Did you now?” Alright, she’s got his attention.

“Oh yes. One was from some young, lovesick widower who thinks we’re destined to be. He wants to marry me and have me raise his two children.” She rolls her eyes. “ _And_ run his farm. I’ve ran enough farms in enough lifetimes to know I never want to do that again.”

Leo raises a brow. “And the other?”

She shakes her head. “Some wealthy man just passing through. He needed attention for a nasty cut from his shaving razor.” Running a finger down the side of her neck, she shows him where the mans damage was. “While I was patching his neck up, he decided to inform me that he already has several wives that are nicely taken care of, and told me I’m very beautiful. The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in fact. He then asked if he could add me to his collection.”

“His _collection_.”

Renee nods, offering Leo a raw strip of bell pepper. “Those were the words he used. His collection. Of course, I politely declined as I already have a lovely husband.”

Leo scoffs around his mouthful of veggie. Him, lovely? She’s full of shit is what she is.

He wakes sometime in the middle of the night on his first day back, unsure of what roused him from his sleep. Blinking heavily, his eyes roam the home for danger. There’s nothing out of place though, just a coat draped over a chair that looks like a vaguely humanoid blob.

A soft kiss to his back startles him. Leo rapidly becomes aware of Renee wrapped around him, her arm over his waist and her face nuzzled into his back. She presses a few more gentle kisses, seemingly unaware that he’s awake. He does his best not to tip her off. He drifts in and out for a bit, eyes floating open when she plants another kiss or lightly rubs her face on his skin. As he starts to fall back asleep for good, he recalls that she loves him. His leaving for so long must leave her far more lonely than it leaves him. No wonder she’s being so affectionate.

“I’m thinking of heading out west this time,” he says over supper, five days after arriving. He’s already getting antsy to leave again. “Never been out that way. There’s hardly anything left on this end of the continent, because I’m too goddamn effective at my job.” Which necessarily wouldn’t be a bad thing, except he’s put himself out of business.

Renee nods, watching him across the table. Her expression is unreadable. “Just let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

Leo hums, ready to tell her that he’ll probably head out in the morning, but she speaks again before he can. “I’ve gotten tired of this place, you know? I’ve had enough of a break. I need time to sell the house before we leave, though, and sell whatever belongings I can’t take with me.”

It surprises him, but he doesn’t argue. He’s missed her companionship. So he sticks around for another week or so without complaint while she sells off everything, until the house is bare-bones furnished the way it was when he first helped her buy it. Just a bed and a rickety table, both of which served them well. She takes one last look around the place anyway before declaring that everything is finished and they can finally leave.

Leo has a final order of business before they leave though, instructing her to stop outside of the door. Renee waits patiently while he looks her over, and merely tilts her head back when he reaches for her throat. He takes hold of the thin silver chain and pulls the necklace out of her dress, letting it come to rest on her clothed chest. It lays lightly against the soft gray cotton and catches in the sunlight. Leo hums in satisfaction.

“I paid a lot of money for that,” he says, fondly looking at the jewelry. That hunk of rock cost more than just about anything he’s ever purchased in his life. And while he’s more of a rings type man himself, he can’t deny that the necklace looks good on her. “It’s not doing any good tucked away in your clothes.”

“Of course,” she agrees, reaching up to touch it. “Of course.”

 

 

 

 

The two of them travel west for a good three years, him killing and her healing. They make quite the pair. Out this far the jobs are plentiful but they don’t pay as well. People are just too poor it seems. But they’ve already come all this way, and Leo isn’t a man to just back down. So he scopes out the best paying jobs and takes those first, and then gradually lowers his standards as the prices get lower and lower.

It’s… boring. The west is dense with trees and not many people. More often than not, they sleep under the stars rather than in a tavern because there are days of space between these tiny villages. It’s a pain having to restock supplies, not knowing if they’ll need two days rations or seven, simply because there’s so fucking much empty space. It’s a shit deal, but what can they really do about it?

Shortly after his thirty-ninth birthday, with the land beginning to shake off the clinging tendrils of winter, Leo frowns out the window of their ‘borrowed’ home.

With the deep cold and vast emptiness of the land, he and Renee had no choice but to hunker down for this season. The cabin is in the middle of nowhere, and no one was here when they arrived. A thick layer of dust and grime covered every surface once they’d ushered themselves in from the freezing rain, telling that no one had been here in a long time. Hopefully they’ll be gone before anyone can stumble upon them, regardless of if it’s the owner or not.

“Renee, how do you feel about the coast?” he asks, watching small puffs of snow fall outside. Hopefully it won’t stick. He’s never been fond of the cold, but the warmth of a fire takes the worst of the edge off. Still, he crosses his arms over his chest to conserve his own body heat.

“Hm? I like it well enough. Lots of pirates these days, though,” she tells him from the bed, mending one of his shirts. She looks cozy under the quilts.

He hums in agreement. “Means good work for me.”

Renee chuckles from behind him, setting his shirt down. “I’m well aware. Does this mean we’re going to be heading south when the snow lets up?”

“Yes.”

He hears the bed let out an awful squeak, and a moment later, two arms wrap around his waist. “I don’t mind. I love the coast, but I’m frightened of the water. I haven’t been in at least a hundred years. Not since a cyclone blew through and destroyed everything.”

Leo nods. He’s heard about that. People wary of building by the sea, but doing it anyway. Good little fishing communities that often get wiped out, come back, rebuild, and start the cycle all over again. A vicious cycle it is, but they could always move away. Plenty of fishing communities survive just fine from fishing the rivers.

The silence goes on, but he’s comfortable. She’s warm against his back, her heat soaking into his clothing as if she’s a fire. She definitely puts off heat like she’s a well-tended blaze. Leo closes his eyes for just a moment, before opening them back up and looking out into the snowy forest.

“I found a gray hair this morning,” he tells her, with little else to talk about. It was a find that soured his mood for a bit. He’s always been very proud of his long mane of dark hair, and with his passing birthday combined with finding a silver hair, well. It’s making him face the aging that he tries to ignore. But his wife is ever-pretty, ever-young and beautiful with the eternal youthfulness granted by her being a goddess. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous.

Renee presses a kiss to his shoulder. She’s so warm against him, though he can tell she’s beginning to get cold by the way she’s suppressing shivers. “I can start plucking them for you, if you’d like.”

He hears the connotations in her voice. “Them?” he asks.

“You can’t see all of your hair, my love.”

There’s more? He sighs heavy, feeling the sour mood begin pushing back up. Of course there’s more. Renee presses another kiss to his shoulder, brushes his hair out of the way to dot them along his neck. “Just think of it as a step towards your immortality,” she says softly, kissing under his ear.

Leo doesn’t tell her that he still doesn’t love her.

He has to, though, a year later, when she tells him it’s the anniversary of their tenth year of marriage. They’re on the beach, enjoying a nice dinner paid for by the bounty he got on a pirate’s head. He even had enough to splurge and buy them a nice bottle of wine to share. The sail from the man’s ship makes a nice enough blanket, keeps them from having to sit on the sand. Renee lightly bumps his shoulder with her own.

“Ten years,” she says softly, watching the sun going down over the water. It’s a beautiful sight. “Ten years with you and I think this is probably the nicest date you’ve ever taken me on.”

Leo smiles behind his wine glass, catching the teasing edge to her voice. It probably _is_ the nicest date he’s ever taken her on, but regardless, she says it like a joke. He knows she enjoys his company no matter where they are.

“I have something to ask,” Renee tells him before taking a long drink from her glass.

“Mm-hmm?”

“Do you love me yet, Leo?” A long silence falls between them after she asks.

He’s been in love before. He loved his first wife more than anything on this earth, still feels he twinges of a broken heart when he thinks of her. He remembers how he felt when he married her, when he first laid with her, the long days of travel spent with her at his side. It didn’t matter if he woke up in a tavern or on the forest floor, as long as he was with her.

Leo certainly feels more than a sense of companionship towards Renee now, but what he feels for her is dull compared to what he had for his first wife. He can’t name what he feels for Renee. Not love, but something lesser. It would feel like a lie if he said yes.

So, very honestly, Leo tells Renee no.

She looks sad when she smiles, but presses one of her hands over his. Turning her face back to the sunset glistening off the sea, she says, “It’s alright. You still have plenty of time, I’m sure of it.” But still, she sounds a little hurt.

To love, to have the closeness that the two of the share, and not be loved in return. He feels a little cruel for not loving her, but it’s not something he can just force. Renee accepts it when he kisses her, at least. Small mercies.

 

 

 

 

“Where do you plan to settle when you’re too old to travel anymore?” Renee asks him one afternoon as they’re traveling through a forest. She holds her dress, keeping the hem from dragging through the muddy underbrush.

Leo is 43, and she’s been asking him questions like this a lot recently. He doesn’t like how much she’s insinuating that he’s getting old. He may not have as much pep in his step as he did five years ago, but he’s certainly not slowing down yet. Killing still comes to him with a fast and ruthless ease. Besides, it’s not like he’s decrepit. He’s forty-fucking-three. He would just barely be considered middle aged, in fact.

“I’ll never be too old,” he tells her, giving her a hard look out of the corner of his eye. “However. When I’m eventually too fucking _tired_ to live this lifestyle anymore, there’s a particular area I have in mind.”

“Oh yeah?” she asks after he doesn’t offer her anything else.

He nods, figures it’s better to just answer her rather than her pester him with more questions. “Yes. There’s a nice spot in the southeast. South enough that the winters are moderate more often than not, and the heat isn’t too bad in the summer.” Leo shrugs. “Far enough from the coast that cyclones rarely hit. Nothing worse than the occasional mild drought.”

Renee smiles. “It sounds nice. You have a village or city picked out?”

Shaking his head, Leo tells her, “No, not yet. Don’t want to plan that far ahead. I don’t plan to quit this until I absolutely have to, which I assume will happen by the time I reach my late fifties or early sixties.” He plans to be old when he’s finally done. Better to work until he’s completely tired himself out rather than stop early and get antsy when he’s unable to safely do this.

More time passes in the same blur of killing as usually does. Seasons pass, some dragging along and some going by faster than he can blink. Though he’s not one to keep up with dates, after a while he pieces together it’s been sixteen years. He’s already past 46, and fall is beginning to creep in. Certainly past their wedding anniversary. He questions her about it, hoping that he isn’t just forgetting or remembering wrong. Losing his mind so early would be unfavorable, that’s for sure.

“It’s been sixteen years,” she confirms when he asks about it, tending to their little campfire. The chill of the evening blows through, sending smoke and freezing air into his face. He shakes his head and waves the smoke away.

He hums in the back of his throat. “You haven’t asked.”

“Asked what?”

Leo watches her as she uses a stick to prod some extra kindling into the heart of the small fire. “You asked on the five-year mark the first two times.”

She gives him a look of confusion when he doesn’t elaborate further, but the pieces click together after a moment. “Ah, that. Has your answer changed at all?”

He doesn’t have to think very hard about it. “No.”

Renee nods. “That’s why I haven’t asked. I didn’t think the answer had changed.” It sort of hurts her to hear, but Leo is a very rough man and she really did expect the answer to still be no. Though it’s assuring in a way for her to hear that she isn’t missing anything, no little clues or hints. He really still doesn’t love her.

 

 

 

 

It becomes apparent much faster than he’d like that his aging is beginning to show. It’s still primarily black, but his hair and the fuzz on his body are beginning to get more gray as the years start to pass. His eyes aren’t quite as strong as they once were. He’s a little slower than he’d like, his reflexes nothing compared to what they were a decade ago. Archery is still a breeze for him, but in up close combat, he’s beginning to lag.

Not as quick to raise his shield anymore, slower on the swing of his blade. Not quick on the _draw_ of his blade either he finds one afternoon when a rogue bandit attacks him in the woods. Renee is behind him thankfully, having ushered him forward so she could pee in peace. The bandit is smirking, pulls his ugly little dirk out. It looks like the kind that belongs to an officer in a large city. The bandit dodges forward. Leo’s hardly gotten his sword out of its sheath before something hits him hard in his left side.

Instead of his vision going red with the rush of adrenaline as it normally would, it begins to blacken on the edges and he immediately feels… weak. He looks down at his side and for once in his life, panic registers. The adrenaline is kind of working, at least, because he can’t feel his wound. It does nothing to slow the way he’s rapidly bleeding out. Maybe it’s not adrenaline. Maybe it’s shock. In front of him, the bandit grins and advances.

From somewhere behind him, Renee lets out a panicked yell. He sinks to the ground without meaning to, dizziness getting to him. Fuck, this is bad. The bandit looks up with a curled lip when he hears her, Leo’s blood dripping off of the dirk’s blade.

She’s rushing past him before he can say anything to her, grabbing his sword from the ground as she does. He blinks out for a moment and comes to in time to watch the bandit’s head rolling into the grass. He blinks out a second time, and when his vision clears, Renee is cradling both his cheek and his side, her eyes full of tears.

“Stay awake,” she says, voice thick as she works at the buckles securing the left side of his armor shut. Her hand is warm against his side when she bares it. He shivers, thinking to himself that her warm hands feel so nice. He’s rather cold. After a moment, it registers in the back of his head that him being so cold on a hot summer day isn’t good.

Whatever she does to his side _burns_. It burns like he’s just been rolled into the hearth of a roaring blaze and it doesn’t let up. He bites down on his lip to keep from screaming and grips her thigh so tightly that she’s undoubtedly going to have black bruises in the shape of his fingers. It hurts worse than anything he’s ever felt in his fucking life, and doesn’t even try to stop he tears of pain that squeeze out of his clenched eyes and run down his cheeks. Once Renee pulls away, looking a little paler and openly crying, the pain recedes enough for him to look down at his side. He’s still incredibly lightheaded, but the long, raw pink scar standing out over his olive skin is hard to miss.

The armor is completely ruined, but he’s alive. Only because of her. Leo would undoubtedly be dead within the next few minutes if she weren’t here to heal his wound. It still hurts too much to move, but he tries anyways and blacks out when he pushes himself to sit up. Renee, unworried about sitting in a puddle if his blood, moves behind him so he can lay his head down in her lap.

“I can only fix the damage, not the blood loss,” she tells him, wiping away her tears before moving to blot his away. Her hands are still pleasantly warm. “You’re too weak right now to get up, please don’t try.”

Leo grunts, feeling too weak to even _talk_ , let alone think about trying to get up again. But he asks her, voice rough, “Am I alright enough to nap? Will I wake up if I do?”

Renee nods. “Yeah, sleep as much as you need, Leo. You’ll wake up.” She loosely waves a hand, fingers flicking back towards the dead man. “I’ll get rid of him while you’re out and build camp nearby.”

“Not too close,” he grumbles, closing his eyes. The smell of fresh blood and the bandit’s dead carcass is enough to draw predators, and he’s currently too indisposed to turn them into prey. If she replies, he doesn’t hear it. He’s claimed by sleep almost instantly.

It’s midday when he falls asleep, head cradled in her lap. The stars are out when he wakes up, and he’s in his bedroll, feeling too hot between the bedroll and the fire. With the numbness of shock gone, he’s well aware of his discomfort. His stomach grumbling in protest for a meal. His side still hurts like all hell. Any time she’s healed an injury for him, the pain went away with the wound. Perhaps this time is different.

Renee’s nowhere in sight, but he can hear something like a human approaching. Mercifully, it turns out to be her. She’s got a rabbit in her grip, dead presumably, and their water canteen in the other hand. Noticing he’s awake, she sets the rabbit to the side and kneels next to him. She helps him sit up and touches his forehead, looks him in the eyes like she’s gauging if they’re glassy.

“How are you feeling?” she asks, unscrewing the cap before passing him the canteen.

He drains it completely before he even entertains the idea of answering. It gives him a chance to decide the best answer. Too hot? Hungry as hell? In pain? “Like shit.”

Renee swallows hard, combing her fingers through his hair. “I figured, but you know what they say about assumptions. Are you feeling hungry?”

Leo grunts. “Hungry enough to eat the whole fucking rabbit by myself.”

After preparing the rabbit and shoving a spit through it, she leaves it over the fire to cook while she returns to the river to refill their water. She’s kind enough to refill it a third time when Leo drinks all of it again, but he feels rather satisfied with the amount he’s had. He doesn’t feel the need to empty it again.

“It’s good that you’re so thirsty,” she tells him, passing him some of the cooked meat. Her tone borders on praise. “Means your body is already trying to make new blood.”

“Would be a flaw if it didn’t,” he replies roughly before digging in. It’s most of the extent of their conversation, her telling him that his body is doing well already, him grunting around a mouthful of food.

He sleeps soundly after devouring most of the rabbit. Renee claims she doesn’t have much of an appetite after worrying all damn day, so he doesn’t fight her on it. In the morning, he’s strong enough to stand but not much else. She won’t let him push himself. He tries anyways, and she catches him when he inevitably passes out on his feet.

“That wound was enough to kill you, Leo,” she tells him, looking more scared than angry. “It _should_ have killed you. I healed the damage, and that’s it. It used up your body’s energy to do it, and it normally takes a body _weeks_ to heal from something this traumatic. I expedited the healing process, but it used all that energy at once instead of a little bit at a time. Your body still has to regenerate the energy.”

Leo finds himself wanting to argue, but he can’t. Instead, he begrudgingly listens to her care instructions and only gets up when he absolutely has to.

They spend a few more days resting, and head for the nearest town when he’s able to walk. They wake up early in the morning, close to first light, and make the trip once they’ve packed themselves up. It’s not too terribly far, a few hours maybe, but it’s nightfall when they make it there. But they make it, at least. Out of pure habit, he tries to go for the notice board, but she tugs him towards the shoddy little building labeled as a tavern. She looks a little irate about it.

“You can barely walk, Leo. Come on, you need rest in a proper bed.”

Once more, he has to agree. His knees feel like they’re about to give out, and his vision has been swimming for hours. She gets them a room as quickly as she can and helps him in, get the bed ready for him. Collapsing onto that bed is a sweet relief. He’s too tired to even get naked.

In the morning, he tries to sneak out, just to get a look at the board. If there’s something light, he’ll take it. Something like hunting bunnies won’t be too tough. But Renee stirs, sits up and asks him where he’s going. Does he need help getting to the outhouse?

Leo is honest with her. He admits with no remorse that he was heading out to look at the board. Emphasizes that he only intended to look. Half honest, then. Renee immediately looks upset. She pulls herself out of bed and crosses her arms under her breasts. Normally it would be pretty cute, but she’s a little too distressed for him to dare say anything about it.

“You can’t do this anymore, Leo,” she says, eyes glistening like she’s tearing up. “You’re getting too old for this.”

It’s like a slap in the face to hear that. Too _old_? He’s forty-fucking-seven, her most certainly _isn’t_ too old. He curls his lip and grits his teeth, ready to argue, but she takes one of his hands into her own.

“Please listen to me,” she pleads, and he simmers in a quiet fury long enough to let her explain herself. “Leo, your reflexes have been slowing down since before I met you. I’ve watched you slowing down over the past almost two decades. I’m not calling you old, you’re hardly middle-aged, but what I’m saying is you’re too old to _keep doing this_.”

His nostrils flare, not entirely of his own volition. “Bullshit-”

“Leo, you would have died if I wasn’t here. What happens if someone catches you unaware or is faster than you, and I’m not around?” Her eyes are watering now, wet and red but not exactly crying.

“It won’t happen again,” he tells her, and this is probably the angriest he’s ever felt towards her. How _dare_ she-

Instead of getting angry herself, the tears spill. “I don’t want there to be a chance for it to happen again!” she tells him, swiping at her eyes. “If you die now, you lose your chance at immortality. _I lose my husband._ ”

He grits his teeth harder. She very much has a point, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

“Leo,” she starts again, still teary, “you’ve been widowed before. I watched you mourn her loss, and I know you _still_ mourn her, over three decades later. Why would you want to put me through the same thing? Why would you make me put you in the ground?”

It’s a low blow, and they both know it. But she means it. He has no choice but to concede to her wishes of rest for now, because simply standing is making him pant with exertion. She quickly dresses herself and leaves the room, knowing he’s angry enough that he won’t lay down with her in it. He feels utterly exhausted when he sits. It’s only a few minutes until she returns, but she has an offering of food.

They stay in the same place for a few weeks, and she’s usually gone for most of the day. Their coin should have run out by now, so he assumes she’s out doing her doctor thing to keep up with rent. His temper cools down after the first day, and he’s realized that she has a point. It’s a point that he doesn’t like, but fact is fact. He never finds a good time to talk to her, to apologize. She’s either gone during the day or halfway asleep when he sees her, other than her dropping off meals and leaving just as quick. He sleeps so damn much that he hardly sees daylight.

He does catch her one night. The door closing wakes him, and he blinks awake enough to roll onto his side to watch her undress. Not knowing he’s awake, she tries to be quiet. She sets her sandals next to his boots, folds her dress and sets it neatly on the dresser next to his ruined chest piece. Muttering to herself, she turns out the only lamp in the room.

Leo faces her as she lays down, sharing a long look with her. Even in the dark, he can see that his pretty goddess wife looks _tired_. Is it exhaustion, he wonders? Worry?

“You’re right,” he tells her quietly, sliding a hand up to her hip. “You’re right. As much as I don’t want you to be, you’ve been right the whole time.”

Renee doesn’t say anything, instead choosing to lean in and kiss him. They pull apart after a moment and he lays on his back. His side doesn’t hurt anymore, but it’s become a habit now to favor his right side. She comes in close when he’s settled and rests her forehead against his shoulder.

“When you’re well enough, we’ll go to the bank and take all of our money, then go area you picked out,” she tells him, breath hot on his arm. “We’ll pick out a village and have a house built. I’ll take care of you. You’re not old. Just not made for this anymore.”

He’s not well enough for at least another month. Even after that, he’s still slow from the atrophy that almost three consecutive months of rest did to his body. And… he’s getting older, getting back into his prime shape is going to be fucking _hard_. But he pushes through and tries to find the balance between endurance and exhaustion.

 

 

 

 

The spot they pick is nice enough. It’s close enough to the village to be in shouting distance if anything is ever wrong, but just far enough to give them the privacy they want. The house is built just before the first snow of winter hits, so they get to spend a good month trapped inside because they both detest the cold.

Their house is nice, though. It’s Renee’s design, and a good one at that. Its got an actual bedroom area instead of being a one room cabin, and he likes that. Little less warm because the heat from the fire can’t reach as well, but it’s still nice. And true to her word, Renee takes care of him. She cooks, cleans, never expects him to lift a finger. She also takes care of his body, and though it takes him a little longer to get hard these days, he’s not going to say a single word about her giving him head to take care of that issue.

Once he’s well enough to be a functional human being, he starts taking contracts again. Most of them are from the butchers in the area. They pay him with coin, and his choice of meat from whatever kills he brings them. Sometimes he’ll knock two contracts out at once with pest removal, taking out rabbits that are destroying the neighbor’s gardens, collecting coin, then selling the rabbits to the butcher.

The town is a little wary of him, this dark haired man with a severe face and short tone. Their hesitation only grows when they realize he’s willing to do just about anything that they put up on the board, including tracking down some asshole that murdered the tailor’s daughter. But he’s an honest, hard working man and eventually they’re not so cautious. It’s probably because his wife sings praises about him to anyone that will listen.

Renee teases him occasionally when the neighbors begin to whisper. “What _do_ you want with such a young woman, hm?” she asks sometimes, smiling because she knows she’s billions of years older than him. Other times, she’ll giggle and ask, “So when _are_ we going to have babies to fill up this big empty house?”

She almost chokes herself laughing when he absentmindedly answers her one day with, “When my cock can get hard again on command, then I’ll give you babies.”

Settling down is pretty boring if he’s honest, but it’s nice. He likes coming back in the afternoon for a break to have a meal waiting on him, instead of sitting down in some random field in a strange part of the continent to chew on some jerky. Sleeping in a bed every night is a luxury he’s never solidly had in his life, seeing as he grew up an orphan on the streets and graduated up to being a wandering mercenary. Their breaks for the winter were the longest he ever had that pleasure.

And Renee. She’s so attentive to him, constantly fussing over him. She’s always sitting him down for breakfast when he’d much rather be outside starting his work for the day, makes him take long breaks for lunch. Now that he’s feeling better, his energy has come back in full. But she insists, makes him eat a little something while she braids his hair back. Strokes his face when she’s done and debates on whether or not to give him a shave in the evening.

Leo’s never understood the difference between a house and a home. Your house is your home, love has nothing to do with it. But as the years pass, the place comes together. Little bits of decorations here and there, a few paintings of his own creation hung on the walls, spots of damage on the floor from her clumsiness. The chipped dinner plates that never seem to get put away, the dried mud that never fully gets cleaned out of the doorway. It doesn’t just feel like a house anymore. It feel like _home._

He likes coming home to his pretty wife, who dotes on him and is frankly starting to make him fat. He’s always been nicely toned from his job, but with the combination of aging, less activity, and eating three whole meals a day, he’s beginning to get something like a gut. It’s not much, but he’s never really had that extra layer of padding on his belly before. Leo finds that he doesn’t mind. His clothes still all fit, though he has to loosen his belt to another notch.

She kisses him in the evening late one summer, soft and easy. Her body is warm against him, their fronts pressed flush together as they trade kisses. The light of the sunset coming in through their window catches in her eyes, making the green glitter like emeralds.

“Two decades,” she says softly, running her hand down his side. Her fingers catch on his scar and trace it. “Twenty whole years together.”

Leo lets out a soft ‘huh’. “I guess it has been, hasn’t it?”

Renee smiles, though he can sense some nervousness in it. “It has. And I’ve got to ask, Leo… has your answer changed?”

Has it? He hasn’t put much thought into it. Living with her, spending every day and night with her has certainly changed things. He’s never been so comfortable with another person before. Never thought he’d be comfortable with someone else holding a blade to his neck, but every week or so he finds himself reclined back, dozing while she shaves off the patchy scruff that makes up a poor excuse of a beard..

Certainly, things have felt different, but he can never place it. Something about the way they touch now, in the soft familiar ways their habits feel. He makes love to her now, tender and desperate in the way he takes her body, the passionate kisses that have a different feel than they did even five years ago. Don’t you have to love someone to make love to them, he wonders?

He thinks about his first wife. She was the only thing he’d ever loved, even as a child, the only star in his eyes. Just the sight of her would make him weak in the knees. His first wife would make him feel _weak,_ and he was okay with that. She made him fell like something other than what he was. He was, _is_ , a mostly emotionless monster, but she made him smile. She made him happy.

Now, it startles him to realize that _Renee_ makes him happy.

Renee kisses him, just the barest brush of her lips on his. He only catches her sadness because he knows her so well. “It’s alright,” she says, presses their mouths back together. “It’s okay that your answer hasn’t changed. You still have time.”

“What if it has?” he asks, letting her claim another kiss.

“Has it?” She sounds startled. And it’s his turn to steal a kiss from her.

“Yes,” he tells her, no hesitation. “My answer is yes.”

 

 

 

 

There’s no great change between them. He still goes out and works, and she stays home unless she’s needed as a doctor. It becomes apparent after a few years that the villagers have caught on to the fact that she’s not aging, but other than a few whispers, they leave it well enough alone. But when they ask, Leo questions them in return.

“Do you believe in gods?” he always asks, and when they unsurprisingly say yes, he tells them, “Then believe in her.”

It at least makes her job easier when the ‘secret’ comes out. Renee doesn’t have to hide the magic anymore when she heals the villagers, which means she can just directly deal with the illnesses instead of pretending to give them medicines and such. Less room for them to grow worse because she can just nip it in the bud.

She takes care of his sicknesses too, of course. Squashes his colds before they can even begin to make him sniffle, does away with malignancies in his cells before they can multiply and eat away at his body. Her healing touch keeps him healthy and strong, and he figures he’s doing a little better than most men his age.

The one thing she can’t fix is the effect of aging. She can’t make the arthritis developing in his wrists and shoulders go away, she can only soothe it. She can’t stop the way his hands have begin to shake of their own volition. There’s nothing to do when his eyesight starts getting worse. He can’t see very far anymore, but he’s glad he’s not going blind. At least by the time everything starts getting bad, he’s ready to really settle down and retire.

The one thing that he’s sort of angry that she can’t fix is his hair. It’s mostly gray with black streaks, instead of the other way around. At least he’s still got a little bit of color to it at sixty. He’s still doing a lot better than most men his age. He’s still got a splash of color in his hair, he hasn’t got a beer gut, and his wife doesn’t care that it takes what feels like days for him to get hard. That, and his wife is still young and fucking attractive. So, yeah. Doing better than most.

He’s tired a lot more, as the days, months, years wear on. Sleeping in becomes his favorite thing to do. Sleep is a nice relief from the way his body rarely stops aching. Something always hurts, it seems. The curse of aging. But he’ll have immortality soon enough, he’s sure, and she’s assured him he’ll not ache anymore.

Leo spends most days outside, watching the scenery. It’s mostly birds and small wildlife, but the occasional child wanders by and asks to have some fruit off of their many trees. He allows it, because there’s no way he and Renee can eat that much on their own. Being old has killed his appetite from what it used to be. That, and he certainly isn’t going to harvest any of it. Renee keeps too busy to bother with a proper harvest either, only taking what she needs from the heavy branches.

She comes out with him sometimes, content to sit in the dust next to his chair, rest her head on his thigh, watch the birds nesting. It’s nice. He likes just being able to sit around, with no more obligations other than to kiss her every now and then and tell her she’s a hot piece of ass. He’s set for the rest of his human life, no need to go out and make money. He can in fact pay others to take care of things that he and Renee don’t have time for.

It surprises him that his bloodlust has quelled so much in his old age, but when it rears its head, he breaks out the bow and arrow. He’s not as accurate as he used to be, but he can still usually hit his target. But with the older he gets, the less and less he feels the need to get his gear out. He’s so tired now.

 

 

 

 

Renee wakes one morning, feeling Leo’s chilled skin touching her own. She shivers, his icy leg pressed up against her own warm skin. Seventy is such an old age for humans to reach, and they always seem to be cold the older they get. He’s cold because the room is cold, probably. He probably pulled his leg back under the blanket after waking up too cold. Her eyes are blurry when she sits up, but she knows something isn’t right when she kisses him.

His lips are blue, she sees, after rubbing the sleep away. His skin has lost a great deal of color, and she realizes he’s stiff. Cold all over. In a small panic, she presses her hand to his chest, though she hasn’t heard him breathe once and can’t see his skin raise with the pulse of his heart. She knows it’s temporary, but she still cries when she realizes that her husband dead. An automatic reaction to death.

She steels herself after a while and forces herself to get up. She wipes her eyes, tries to get her breathing under control while she looks at her husband. Leo’s still cold, still gray. Still dead. Renee swallows hard and lets out a long breath. She has to start the process soon. The faster she deals with this, the faster he’s back in her arms.

 

 

 

 

It’s already midday when he wakes, he can tell by the heat in the house. Spring is funny like that. He was freezing last night when the temperatures dropped, and now he’s sweating through the blankets. He tosses the blanket off, letting the air in the room cool his sweat slicked skin while he thinks.

Fuck, that was such a strange dream he’d had. There was just… nothing. His consciousness was floating in a vast emptiness, just a void, for what felt like an eternity. All he could do was think. And while he’s a man who likes to be alone with his thoughts, he doesn’t like to be _that_ alone. It was like a purgatory. He felt like he was waiting and waiting and waiting, be he didn’t know what exactly he was waiting for. Perhaps Renee can tell him in a while, she’s good at dream interpretations.

He sits up and throws his legs over the edge of the bed. His bladder is demanding that he go piss, like, right now. When he stands, he finds that his leg hurts. It takes some effort to straighten it, his knee creaking the whole time. When he finally gets it straightened all the way out, it pops. Leo grunts in pain, and other than the residual ache, nothing else really hurts. At least he’s having a good day when it comes to pain.

Once out of the room, he glances around. Renee isn’t anywhere in the house, it seems. Either out getting meat or doing her doctor things, he presumes. That would be nice if she were getting food, he’s hungrier than he’s been in years. Lunch sounds amazing. But still, his bladder demands priority. It’s a pity outhouses don’t exist in homes, he thinks to himself as he hobbles to the door, the ache in his knee letting up. If it could be made sanitary enough to keep inside, he’d give anything to be able to not have to walk outside to the outhouse to piss.

Though he’s nearly at the door, something catches the corner of his eye. A dark flash in the mirror when he walked by. His reflection didn’t look right. He backtracks some and wonders if the black ink of his tattoos spooked him. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.

Leo finds his brains stuttering out when he gets a good look at himself.

His hair… He runs his fingers through it disbelievingly, the black strands cascading like silk. It was solidly gray when he went to bed last night. All of his wrinkles are gone, and his eyes don’t have the cloudy blue sheen that had started to develop. When he looks down at his bare torso, he’s taut and fit, pectorals firm with muscle, and the scar is pulled tight over his side.

Forgetting all about his bladder, he leaves out the front door to find his wife. He doesn’t have to go far. She’s sitting in his chair, elbows on her knees and face in her hands. The line of her body screams of stress and she’s trembling. The amethyst necklace he’d gotten for her so many years ago hangs limply from where she’s hunched, and it adds onto the oddity of this whole situation. She hasn’t worn that in years.

“Renee?” he asks, unable to keep the thin air of panic out of her voice. Her head snaps up, and she starts crying before she even gets to her feet. Leo catches her when she stumbles into him.

“I wasn’t sure it would work,” she blubbers into his chest, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. He can hardly make out what she’s saying. “I knew I had promised, but I still wasn’t sure-”

Something dawns on him. “Renee, did I die?” he asks, forcing her to look at him. Her eyes are watery, already red. Tears cut down her cheeks.

“I woke at sunrise three days ago and you were cold.” Her nails dig into his back, and he feels a wave of discomfort roll over him.

Leo swallows hard. Three days. He’d been dead for three fucking days. The dream of the eternal abyss leaves an uncomfortable feeling in his chest, knowing that it was probably much more than a dream.

“But you’re here,” she continues with a wavering voice, pulling an arm back to wipe her eyes. “You’re here. It worked, Leo.”

“It worked,” he agrees in a daze. He’s hardly been awake ten minutes, and this has been quite a shock. He supposes this means he’s immortal now, back in the body of his younger self. It doesn’t feel real though, like he’s about to wake up from another dream and look down to see that he’s still saggy and gray.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you any younger,” he hears her saying. Her voice still shakes with the effort to stop crying. “The youngest I could manage was when we met, though you can’t say thirty doesn’t look good on you.”

He curls his arms around her in return, finally, resting his chin on her head. “I’ve lived a full life,” he murmurs, staring out into the forest at the edge of their property. _Is_ he in shock, he wonders? “I lived a long life full of excitement, adventure, and a near-death experience. I lived a more fulfilling life than any man could ever hope to have.”

Renee nods against his chest, still gripping him tight. He sounds lost.

“So what the hell do I do now?”

She pulls back, a watery smile on her face. “Anything you want. Anything _we_ want.”

We. It’s the two of them. He’s given her forty of his seventy years. She’s given him the gift of eternal life, all in exchange for something as trivial as love. He’s spent so many of his years with her to achieve what he wanted. Of course she should be included in this.

“We,” he agrees after a moment. Leo’s mind scrambled to come up with something, anything. Something for her. “ _We_ should go to the coast. You deserve a break, a long one, and I think you’re owed about a decade of sunsets over the beach.”

He can feel her smile against his skin. Renee nods. “The beach. I’d like that. That sounds very nice. When do you want to go?”

“It doesn’t matter.” It doesn’t. He lightly curls his fingers into her dress. “Today, a year from now, I don’t care. We have all the time in the world, you and I.”

Renee looks up at him once again, still a little teary. Her eyes are so beautiful, just as vibrant as they day she first came to him. What a journey it’s been. Leo brings a hand up and cups her jaw, leans in and kisses her, soft and slow. They have all the time in the world, now.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always very appreciative of your comments and kudos, so don't be shy about leaving either of those!
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
